~Weeks later~

Startide walked next to Orchid, through the main cave. Ahead, Silt and Eclipsed walked side-by-side, not really talking, but laughing to themselves every so often. Quail led the troupe to the Academy's entrance. Twilight half-moped at the back of the pack, mumblig about how much he'd rather be sleeping.

The dragonets approached Riverbed and Peak, the two dragons designated to take them hunting today.

"Hey guys!" Quail bellowed, for such a tiny dragonet. "We're ready to go! C'mon, take us to hunt!"

"'Aight, Quail. Don't get ya big wings all tangl'd up now. We'll be out soon enough, Squelch and Muck are itch'in to see ya too." River ruffled the spines on Quail's head, teasingly. Startide had listened to Quail go on and on during sparring and mealtime and reading period about how great her big brothers are. They'd apparently been planning this meeting for weeks. And she was ultra-jumpy about it lately.

"Make sure you do some actual hunting this time." Eclipse snarked. He was still a dung-pile sometimes, but after the scuffle with Startide, the icy hybrid had grown to hold his tongue more often. He still teased Quail though. She didn't mind.

"Can it, Slushy." River growled. He was still pretty harsh on Eclipse. Always snarling his orders to him, or pushing him past his limits. Startide thought that only made the dragonet stronger.

Eclipse shot back a perfect, award-winning smile.

River and Peak took the dragonets out of the mountain. It was a treat to go hunting outside. Your clawlet had to be on best behavior for a whole week and was taken out to hunt as a reward. So far, the only slip-up was minor this week. Twilight had spilled blue ink over the librarian, Owl's, favorite cushion in the library. Luckily, the cushion itself was blue.

The group flew around in a looping spiral around Tribes Untied Academy. The cliffside was lush with greenery, and filled with chirruping birds and other animals. Startide felt the salty sea air on his scales, and smiled brightly. Orchid flapped lazily behind him.

As River led the group in a downwards spiral towards the ocean, the dragonets grabbed the tail of whoever was ahead of them. Careful of the barb, Startide wrapped his claws around Silt's tail, and felt Orchid grab his.

They plummeted to the ocean. Skimming the waves surface, Startide sunk his claws into the crisp water. They returned to him with a fish clasped between his toes. He smiled, as the fish thrashed. He flew upwards after Silt, stretching his wings into the empty air. This was great.

Into the forest of trees next. Dragons split up into different directions. Startide flew upwards to the canopy, and landed happily in the branches. Orchid landed next to him, and stretched her neck to the sky to soak up sunshine. Instantly, her scales brightened and grew more vibrant. She smiled her toothy smile, plucked a ripe mango from the trees, and sunk her fangs into it.

"Thith ith the life, Thtartide." she mumbled, through the juice dribbling from the corners of her mouth. Orchid twined her tail around Startide's. Over the last few weeks, they had become good friends, despite the worst first impression. Orchid had made him a necklace out of one of Ivan's marble fangs, and he still wore it. They were sparring partners. They were reading buddies, they even had sleeping nests next to each other.

Startide was determined to take her swimming sometime. The tunnels deep underwater would be too much for her. Startide had grown used to jumping into the sea when his swim pod came sweeping around to him. Octopus was a very nice teacher, in both swim techniques and Aquatic. He only had a few stripes, and spoke the language very crookedly, but it was better than saying something accidentally.

"I'll be back." Startide glided off of the tree branch and away into the trees, leaving Orchid to eat her fruits and tree snakes.

On the forest floor, Startide roamed through the dirt for his favorite thing. Treasure. He ate most insects down here, too, but a lot of the older dragons dropped treasure around here.

Something sparkled in the corner of his eye. he dashed over to it, weaving through the trees. He picked it up, it was gold and glittered brilliantly.

A piece of eggshell.

There was a whole trail of them. Pieces of eggshell made of gold. Startide tucked them under his wing as he followed the trail.

He brushed past a row of shrubs, and a blinding light hit him dead in the face.

Rolling around in the grassy clearing, was a pale-gold dragon, covered in feathers. their snout was more of a beak, their tail looked like that of a bird's, and their eyes shone like chunks of amber in the sunlight. He was giggling like mad, chasing a stray butterfly.

The dragon noticed Startide staring at him.

"Hiya! What're you doing here?" He asked, hyperactivly swatting at the butterfly. "My name's Prism, what's yours? Oh! You're scales are so dark! Are you a ShadeWing? If so, I'm gonna hafta bring you to justice! Aha! Oh, but they're blue-ish, not red, and you have wings, and an expression that doesn't scream "I'm gonna eat chu"" Prism giggled again.

"What are you?" Startide asked, bewildered. Prism might be a hybrid, but feathers were unheard of, and ShadeWings? What were those?

Prism was only a little smaller than Startide. The happy dragon bounced around until he smacked head-on into the hybrid.

"Whoops, sorry!" Prism said, smiling. "Imma LifeWing. We are the kings of Pyrrhia! You can ask my dad, Celest. He should be coming to get me soon, but he's late. Soon, I'll be king. And me, Prism, will be in charge of protecting all of Pyrrhia! Ohhh, you're so pretty! I know all the tribes, from SkyWings to StoneWings, and you don't look at all like them. Maybe you're one of the both! A hybrid, dad calls them. Is that what you are?"

Startide nodded, confused as ever. Prism dove into a bush when a little voice rang out.

"Thtartide? Where are you?" Orchid called, brushing through the trees into the clearing.

"Hey, Orchid. Didn't find anything interesting, but let's go have a reading lesson!" Startide said, frantically. He didn't know how Orchid would react to this little strange dragonet in the bushes.

Speaking of said dragon, Prism burst out of the shrubs towards Orchid, wings outstretched. "Hiya!" he shouted.With a shriek of fright, Orchid lashed her tail defensively across Prism's face. Since she had two types of poison, it wouldn't be fatal, but her tail was not meant to be taken lightly. It still hurt, and you still had to suck the poison out of wounds, and patch it up with Brightsting cactus juice.

Another shriek blasted the two hybrids' ears. Prism's cry of pain was so loud, so high, so blood-curdling, that Startide shook his head to try to get the ringing in his head to stop. The little LifeWing sat on the ground, crying. A black, ugly gash etched across his snout, from one butchered eye to the other.

"Oh no!" Orchid shouted, backing away. " I'm tho thorry!"

The tears burbled around the blueish-silver blood pooling on his snout, and the most amazing thing happened. As Prism yowled in pain, his tears dripped over the wound Orchid had given him. The black poison began to wash out of the gash, and the wound mended itself before their eyes. Prism's own eyes fluttered closed, and the tears began to heal them as well. When he opened them again, they were stark-white.

Prism panted,exhausted from his healing of himself. "Sorry, I'm so sorry for scarin' you like that.... I'll be blinded only for a little while... So don't worry. I'll be fine in a couple days."

Startide and Orchid stood back, bewildered. The Prince of Pyyrhia looked blankly at them with white, eventful eyes, and smiled.

"Startide! Orchid!" Quail's voice said through the trees. "Are you all right?! Did you hear that noise? Where are you guys!?"

"We'd better leave." Orchid said quickly, tugging on Startide's wing.

"We can't leave him like this!" Startide yelled in a hoarse whisper.

"Please take me with you!" Prism also yelled quietly. "I need to find my Keeper!"

"Your dad?" Startide asked. "Isn't he supposed to come get you?"

"No! I have to find my Keeper! Please! Or else all of Pyyrhia will be dragged into darkness!"

"What ith he talking about?!" Orchid asked frantically. Prism tugged blindly on Startide's tail.

"I'll try to explain what I understood later." Startide replied. Turning to Prism "Okay, can you fit into my wing? We need to hide you."

Prism nodded, and with a little Ping he was just small enough to fit into Startide's talons. He snuggled into the hybrid's wings, and covered his face with his own.